Sundown
by TehGramerPolise
Summary: A oneshot I wrote for August MonCon. A try at something different.


**Just a short one-shot I wrote for August MonCon. Unfortunately, I ran out of time, so it's not my best work, but I wanted to submit something. Plus, I wanted to try my hand at writing something different. Let me know what you guys think!**

* * *

Sun walks down the stairs to the coast, staring off towards the horizon. As he steps onto the beach, the mixture of sand and debris digs into the wounds on his feet, stinging with each stride. He continues walking without hesitation, the physical pain only a small pebble compare to the black hole of his inner turmoil.

Walking along the shore while lost in thought, the morning daylight reflects off his body, highlighting his well toned abs and the scars alongside them. Two girls walk past, pointing at his attire with coy smiles. Instinctively, he turns around to speak to his blue-haired partner, but only sees his own fading footprints in the sand. Reminding him of his harsh reality, he ignores the girls as he continues on his trek.

His legs stop involuntary when he reaches the abandoned rental shack. Now deserted, the shop once held beach equipment from floats to surfboards. The wood's original color has long faded, with each plank damaged by the ocean air creating splinters all along its side.

Sun runs his hand through the wood, the touch resurfacing one of his memories.

* * *

"Blargu blargu!" Sun continues to hold Neptune's head under the ocean water as he flings his arms wildly trying to grab on to his float. Half minute later, Sun lets him to go, allowing him to breathe again. "This is NOT proper teaching-" Neptune fails to finish his sentence as a surge of water blasts into his mouth, with Sun pushing him down again.

"Oh come on, you have to get over your fear eventually. I read something about something called aversion therapy, where you pair a bad habit with something you hate. So I paired up your fear of water with drowning! Oh, you probably can't hear me." Sun relaxes his grip, letting Neptune up to take a giant gasp of air.

Neptune moves the goggles back to his forehead, giving Sun the most intimidating glare he could muster. "I hate you."

"Hey, you may say that, but next week you're gonna show off to Weiss. I heard you're making real progress with her." Sun lightly elbows him while winking. "So when are you gonna be official?"

Unable to stay mad at his best friend, Neptune sighs. "I don't know. The dance with Weiss was cool and all, but you know how I am. I don't know if she's the right girl."

"Oh come on, you barely even tried. How did the last five relationships work out for you?" Sun scratches his head, trying to remember. "There was that red hair girl…"

"Too nosy, too fat, too pushy, too bland, and too crazy. That last one tried to take one of my organs after we broke up." Neptune slinks on to his float. "I applied for being a Hunter thinking it would make me popular, but I didn't realize that meant all the girls that approached me wouldn't be normal."

"Wait, was that the reason why you wanted to be a Hunter? Real romantic, ain't ya?"

"Hey! That was my original reason. Now it's just a perk." Neptune begins slowly waddling away from Sun, the conversion distracting the blonde. "What about you? You've been trying to make Blake open up to you since the dance, and she hasn't even given you the time of day!"

Sun frowns as he thinks about the target of his affections. "Blake has her own problems. I wouldn't expect her to immediately open up. If only the girls we liked were as easy to please as the girls in our fanclub."

The two snort in unison at that thought. "If only."

"Going back to the Huntsman thing, what's your reason now? Being friends for ten years now, I'm sure you never told me." Sun smiles mischievously. "It was a girl, wasn't it? Did she dump you because you were too nerdy?"

"I prefer the term intellectual. The reason we never talk about this is because we goof off all the time. Do you remember any serious conversations in the last year?"

"Uhhh…" Sun's tail swings around as he tries to recall, before grabbing on to the float to prevent his friend's escape. "Ya nope. Then let's start now! What was it?"

"Ugh… Yeah, it was a girl." Neptune looks over at the shore longingly before continuing. "I wasn't cool enough for her, so I looked up the coolest jobs. Number one was Huntsman. I confessed to her after I passed the test to combat school. Can you guess what she said to me?"

"Uh oh. I'm guessing it wasn't 'Yes, take me please?'"

"Nope. Apparently, Huntsman don't make enough money to satisfy her, so she said nope, not even through the heat death of the universe."

Sun groans at the harsh rejection. "Ouch. Wait, was that day were you swore off girls? I remember the walk back you-"

"WE PROMISE NOT TO TALK ABOUT THAT!" Neptune screams with red eyes and visibly in distress. "But yes. I was really depressed when I got back home. I was about to tell my Dad that I wanted to just go to the nearest public school, but…"

Sun laughs as he guesses what happens next. "You didn't try and come out of the closet at the same time, did you?"

"I said-! Never mind. I remembered why we don't have serious conversations anymore." Neptune begins slowly paddling away towards the shore.

Sun grabs on to the float to stop him. "Okay, okay, I'll be serious. What happened?"

"Promise you won't laugh?" Neptune sighs as Sun nods his head vigorously. "My Dad came to me with a tear in his eyes. He's the definition of manliness, so of course I was taken by surprise. He held up the combat school letter, giving me a big hug, saying 'I'm so proud of you.' That was the first time he ever praised me, and so I couldn't back out at that point, you know?" Neptune scratches his cheek embarrassingly. "Now you know. So I kinda stuck at it." The two float in silence, Sun staring straight at him. After a minute, Neptune finally lost it. "Say something, damn it! We just had a bro moment, and you just…"

"Oh, I can talk now." Sun flashes him a smile. "Now I'm _convinced_ that you and Weiss are made for each other. You BOTH have daddy issues! I can't wait to tell her." He starts swimming back to shore.

"Wha-! GOD DAMN IT SUN YOU GET BACK HERE!" Neptune wades through the water with all the grace of a seaweed, trying to catch up to him. "I WILL KILL YOU DEAD IF YOU TELL ANYONE!"

* * *

Sun smiles as he finishes recalling their first trip to the beach. The aversion therapy had worked. Neptune got over his fear of water as he finally swam attempting to catch up to him to stop his secrets being revealed.

He failed.

Feeling tears welling up from the corners of his eyes, he walks away from the shack. As he continues walking along the beach, he could see a handful of families smiling while playing in the sun. Reaching the wooden docks, he sees some of the kids role playing a game of pirates and marines. They use their pool noodles as swords, jumping into each other's territory as if boarding on the enemy's ship.

Sun takes a seat by the side of the dock as he watches the scene. Feelings of envy of their innocence overwhelm him as he remembers a similar scene with his team.

* * *

Scarlet walks along blindfolded as Sun pushes him from behind. "Are we there yet? I've been walking for over twenty minutes now."

"Almost! Just give it a few more seconds." The two step on to the wooden dock. "Alright, here we are!" Sun takes off the blindfold. "So, what do you think?"

Scarlet opens his eyes to see a large wooden ship, with his teammates on the captain's deck. "No! You didn't!"

"We sure did!" Sun smiles seeing his reaction, as Scarlet fidgets around nervously in anticipation. "Lower the plank! We're boarding!" Sage drops a plank on the side of the boat."

The two of them walk and jump on to the ship. Scarlet looks around with eyes shining. "This is authentic! This was made from before the Dust era… You can even see that it uses pine and cedar in its construction, woods that aren't even harvested anymore." He jumps around all over the ship, closely examining every piece, even sniffing it in a few places.

Neptune walks up to Sun. "I'm glad he likes it. Makes the effort really worth it."

Sun pats him on the back. "Yup, it really does. You sure you're okay, buddy? I'm worried about you. It was a pretty bad breakup."

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Neptune gives a pained smile. "I'm sad it didn't work out, but I'd rather try and be happy with all my friends here!" Before Sun can comment any further, he runs off to Sage at the helm. "Hey Scarlet, take a look at the captain's wheel!"

Sun chases his teammates, walking up the stairs to the helm. Scarlet's eyes shine as he stares at the steering wheel. "Can… can I touch it?"

"Touch it? You can use it! We're taking out the baby for a swim!" Sun looks around nervously before taking out a stereotypical pirate hat and hands it to Scarlet. "What are your orders, Captain?"

Scarlet's hand slowly approaches the hat, grabbing it as if it were a sacred object. Putting it on, his expression changes to one full of confidence. "Weigh anchor! We're settin' sail! Neptune, you're on lookout! Sage, you're on navigations! We're all coming back in one piece, you hear?"

The three of them give a salute. "Aye, captain!" Neptune and Sage both run towards their respective position, while Sun activates his semblance to have his clones work on operating the rest of the ship.

After hoisting the anchor and setting the sails, they slowly but surely leave the beach. The wind catches onto the sails, accelerating them farther and farther away. Scarlet continues to have a big grin on his face as he gives more orders, the clones running around trying to comply. After a while, the ship moves unassisted and the hubbub dies down.

Scarlet turns to face his team leader. "Thanks for doing this. I don't know how you figured out this was what I wanted-"

Sun interrupts him. "Dude. You wear a captain's coat with a gun and a cutlass as a weapon. It's not _that_ hard to guess. But I'm glad you like it."

Neptune shouts from the crow's nest. "Small fishing boat approaching! Take evasive maneuvers!"

The captain turns the navigation wheel to the left, steering the ship away. As the ship continues its course, they could see a small boat pass by on their right. "You know, this was always my dream. To be a Hunter of the sea, on a ship called Spirit of Adventure with a small crew of my friends. Sure, I'm not a Hunter yet, but this is as close as any to that."

"Aww, no need to get sappy on us!" Sun gives Scarlet a light punch on the arm. "Just focus on enjoying this! Besides, if you get too distracted and crash, Neptune might get his fear of water back again."

"I heard that!" Neptune screams, grabbing tightly to the wooden railing. "I'm not afraid of water anymore, but if you crash us and get us killed, I will haunt you from beyond the grave!"

The two of them laugh at their teammate's expense. Sage walks back up towards them, whispering to Sun. "We're approaching the patrols. What should we do?"

"Uhhh, Scarlet! Hey, buddy, maybe we should sail in another direction! You know, more along the beach. We don't need to go this way, right?" Sun laughs nervously.

"Sun… What did you do? That's your 'I stole something and is about to get caught laugh.'" Scarlet glares at him before he puts one and one together. "No! You didn't!"

"Eh heh." Sun gives another nervous laughter. "I may have 'borrowed' the ship from Ozpin. Without his permission. Was totally going to return it before he noticed! But then Sage had to go and ask, which completely ruined the whole 'not noticing thing.'

Sage shrugs. "If we don't want to get in trouble, we should go by the rules."

"Anyway, if we turn around now-"

"STOP THE SHIP! I REPEAT, STOP THE SHIP. YOU ARE SAILING ON INTERNAL WATERS WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION. I REPEAT, YOU ARE SAILING WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION!" A loud siren blasts toward their direction along with the commands.

"Told you." Sage says deadpan before walking away. "I'll be in the berth waiting for this whole thing to blow over."

Scarlet continues to glare at the blonde. "Now what?"

"Hey, this gives you the pirate scenario you always wanted! We're wanted men on the sea. Arrr!" Sun shakes his fist as if he has a hooked hand.

Scarlet gives a sigh before taking the wheel again. "If we will get punished for it, I might as well enjoy it to the fullest. Get in position! We're doing a Crazy Ivan!"

"Aye!" Sun activates his semblance again. Despite his friend's protest, he could see a grin that makes the trouble all worth it.

* * *

A faint smile appears on his face as he recalls the aftermath of the event. The patrols eventually stopped them after pursuing for four hours. Ozpin's punishment for them was to 'swab the deck' of Beacon for the upcoming month. Despite the heavy reprimand, Sun could only smile as he recalls how often Scarlet bought up the crazy memory of the chase.

The sunlight begins fading along with the memory, the warmth taken away from him. The kids that were playing so cheerfully before pack up their belongings, running off to their family. Sun gives one last look at the wooden dock before moving on. As he approach the end of the beach, a group of middle school kids run pass him, jogging along while chanting a running cadence. Their exhausted and anguished looks trigger a painful memory with him and his stoic teammate.

* * *

"I am not letting you fail." Sage swings his sword, landing it right in front of Sun lying on the sand. "If you fail the end of the year combat test, I will take it as a personal insult. Now each hour… One hundred pushups! One hundred situps! One hundred squats!"

Neptune groans, grabbing his abdomen in pain. "We just finished the last rep! Can't we get a short break?"

"Nonsense. We have been slacking. The last time we trained seriously was in our first year. Now get back up!" Sage picks up his sword effortlessly, slinging it on to his back. "Unless you want me to tell them you-"

"ON IT!" Neptune immediately flips back over to begin his push ups. His loud panting could be heard by his other teammates.

"That includes everyone. Sun, Scarlet, why am I not seeing you two moving?" Sage gives a fierce staredown at the two.

Scarlet begins his set of pushups again, but Sun stands up in defiance. "Hey, I've done my share of training! Besides, you don't have any dirt on me."

Sage raises an eyebrow. "Oh? Then let me inform Blake about the bana-"

"SIR YES SIR!" Sun's loud shout drowns out Sage's speech, as he leaps downward to continue their training. Sage begins swinging his sword, counting each of his swings and the pushups his teammates are performing.

Four hours later, the four of them all lay down on the sand, gasping for air. They had not taken any breaks as they did their training regiment from hell. Struggling to even speak, Sage finally gives out the authorization to rest.

Sun grabs on to their instructor's shoulder, stopping every few words to take a deep breathe. "Sage. You need. To Learn. To chill."

Sage's breathing is the first to stabilize. "With how much 'chill' the three of you do, I must have enough 'heat' to balance it out. You'll thank me when you pass the test with flying colors."

Too exhausted to argue, Sun could only shake his head angrily in protest. A few minutes later, two girls wearing bikinis walk over toward them. "Hey boys. Looking good there."

Neptune is the first to get up and respond. "Hello, ladies. I-OW!" The quick ascent agonizes his weakened muscles, causing him to quickly slump down again.

Sage stands up to take Neptune's place. "Hello. Thank you for your compliment. We have to continue our training, so unfortunately we do not have any time to play with you ladies. I hope you understand." He gives a bow with a shining smile.

The two blush as their gazes run up and down his body. "W-we understand." One of them quickly scribble onto a piece of paper, handing it to Sage. "Whenever you're done and want some company, call us." The girls dash away while giggling.

"Noooo!" Neptune extends his hands out to the two's fading image, his expression one of anguish. "We chose training over girls! Where did I go wrong to deserve this?!"

Sage rips the paper. "You made the correct decision. Your Huntsman career is more important than conversations with girls you will never meet again. Now, let's continue our training."

Everyone groans in unison at his declaration. Sun finally recovers enough to stand back up. "Hey, Sage, buddy! Let's go talk for a bit and give them some more time to rest." Before he could protest, Sun slings his hand over Sage's shoulder opposite of him and pulls him away.

After walking a fair distance, Sun begins speaking in a hushed voice. "Okay, I get that being serious is your 'thing,' but you could take some time to relax, you know! We're at the beach! Those girls just totally hit on you, but you ignored them! I think I can hear Neptune crying at the sound of that."

Sage heaves out a sigh. "But the test-"

Sun puts a hand over his mouth to interrupt him. "Right, the test is important. But a half hour of rest wouldn't hurt that! I'm also worried Scarlet isn't getting enough blood flow to his brain at this point."

After Sage nods, Sun moves his hand away. "You can take a break. But I will continue training."

Sun could only facepalm at his teammate's reply. "I meant we ALL relax."

"Sun, do you know what the Ayana family name is?" Sun shakes his head. "Our family is a long line of Hunters, with resolve to lay down our lives at any time. Though I will not force that upon any of you, I cannot betray that as we approach the crucial Huntsman's tests."

"Fine. But after this is all over, we're going back here, and this time, you're actually going to go with Neptune to flirt with the girls. Seriously. I think a relationship can do you good."

Sage nods. "I will." As Sun walks away, he whispers a "Thank you."

* * *

After their hellish training, they were able to pass the end-of-the-year combat test. Sun smiles remembering how Sage was so giddy after, with the 'I told you so,' mood lasting until vacation. Afterwards, true to his promise, they returned to the beach to hit on girls where they found out Sage could only blubber out words when he tries to flirt. The whole team got a laugh out of it, ending with Neptune taking Sage into his tutelage.

Lost in his memories, he finally reaches the destination he had in mind. Sun walks up to the beach bar, named Sundown after their famous drink. As he approaches the counter, the bartender gives him a wave with a smile. "Hey, if it isn't Sun. Where's the rest of your team? I don't think I've ever seen you guys separated."

Sun could only frown, holding back the tears in his eyes. "They're… they're not here anymore."

A solemn atmosphere hangs over them, before the bartender mixes and slides a drink over to him. "It's a Sundown, on the house. I made it wanting it to take people's mind away from their troubles. Hope it does the trick."

Sun takes the drink in hand, swirling it and looking at its color. The sunset in the background dyes the drink red, the blood-stained color reminding him of his reason for coming. Hoping it works as intended, Sun chugs down the drink.

The burn of alcohol does little to calm the whirlpool of emotions in him. Grasping the glass tightly, cracks appearing as he allows his anger to ebb through. The bartender walks over, taking the empty glass away and putting a picture of Team SSSN in his hand instead. "That was taken after you guys won the volleyball tournament this year. Though, I wonder how fair it is to have Huntsman compete as well." Not sensing Sun's reply, he coughs to clear his throat of the awkward atmosphere. "I think you keeping that would do you more good than me."

Sun stares at the picture in hand. He has Neptune sitting on his shoulders while Scarlet sits on Sage's. They all hold the trophy in between them, smiles beaming. He runs his hand, touching each of their faces, faces he will not see again. The tears well up as he recalls what Sage said at the end.

" _Sun, you've done a lot for everyone here. You helped Neptune with his fear of water and with his breakup, you let Scarlet live one of his biggest dreams, and you gave me the most enjoyable four years I could ever ask for. So... thanks for everything, buddy."_

The sun finally sets in the horizon, covering the beach in darkness. Sun could no longer see the picture, but he holds their faces and memories in his mind. A tap on his shoulder causes him to turn around to see Blake.

Blake frowns after seeing his expression. "Sun. Let me know if you need-"

"I'm fine." He gestures for her to go away.

"Clearly, you're not. You haven't eaten or showered in the last few days. Please, let me help."

Sun looks up at her with the tears falling streaming down his face. "Help? Can you help me bring them back?"

"No. But I want to help you stop blaming yourself."

"Blake. It was my fault-"

"No, it wasn't."

"YES, IT WAS!" Sun slams his hand on the table. "Blake, you weren't there. But… but they…" He chokes up as the words struggle to leave his mouth. "They gave up their lives for me. When they had to choice to live or save me, each of them chose me."

" _You can't die yet. Unlike me, you still have someone waiting for you back home."_

" _You've given me my adventure. You still have yours to continue."_

" _This is my duty. Not yours. Yours is to your girl."_

Blake puts his arms around him in an embrace. "It's still not your fault."

"It is. Maybe if I trained them harder, maybe if I didn't goof off as much, maybe if I took school more seriously. Maybe… if we didn't do any of our beach trips, they'll be alive right now." Sun rests his head on Blake's shoulder.

Blake runs her hand down his hair, stroking him and trying to comfort him. "You don't know that. I know how fondly each of you spoke of these trips. For everyone, it was an irreplaceable memory."

"But-"

"Sun. Your friends treasured you. They chose you to live. I know how much it hurts, but don't belittle their sacrifice by whittling away your life." She hugs him tighter. "I'm glad you made it back safely to me."

Sun lets out a soft sob. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry I couldn't save any of you. But… thank you for saving me." He continues holding on to her, each tear doing little to mitigate his loss.


End file.
